Kodachrome

I see that you can still get Kodachrome film on EBay, but I'd be concerned about the age of the film. What is the average shelf life of film?

I don't have a real answer, but I'd steer clear of stuff that hasn't been in the fridge.

It also occurred to me that you probably can't get the stuff developed properly these days.

Rocky Mountain Film Lab can do it. They have a link to another website that sells many kinds of film too. Unique Photo including the SFX200 Ilford film I mentioned in another thread.

And it's in Aurora too! I went to HS in Aurora and my SIL still lives there! Thanks for the link!

I just noticed their turn-around time. "This film is processed on a volume basis, so turn around time varies. Please allow between six and twelve months for return."
Don't plan any magazine shoots to be processed by them.

I wonder if they bought out Kodak's Choke Cherry Road lab gear.

The dye transfer process is complex and "fiddly". Wikipedia has a rather lengthy entry on the K-xx process and its history.

Ektachrome was an eye opener in that the processing could be done by anyone with a darkroom. E-4 (requiring a 'flash' exposure during processing for image reversal) and later, E-6, were what I grew up on. The 'good old days'.

"Mama don't take my Kodachrome, leave your boy so far from home..."

When that song was released (1973), I was in Ubon, Thailand, photographing for the USAF. Getting "thrill rides" in various aircraft to "Document the Air Force Mission", as the job description said. The tune evokes some strong recollections even yet. Back then, I came to the realization that a feeling of "safety" I had by having a camera between me and whatever was happening around me was bogus. My self-delusion became evident. To that point I could go into about any event and be (or attempt to be) the "fly on the wall" so-to-speak. Any good photojournalist strives for that. To see and record without interference or influence. I realized I'd been living my life vicariously through a lens. Not so much that I was missing situational awareness, I'd learned from my days in high school as a local newspaper photog to keep an awareness of what went on around you or you could become involved in a veritable train wreck on the sidelines of a ball game, or the middle of a protest rally. Rather that those images I was making were moments captured, and more important than TAKING action of my own. It was a priority over the risk. Since then I've been more willing to evaluate the risk/reward ratio a bit more carefully.